Blackheath mum fears home at risk from repeated flooding (From Halesowen News)

Blackheath mum fears home at risk from repeated flooding

7:30am Thursday 12th July 2012 in News

DISTRAUGHT Blackheath home owner Beverley Gill is being forced to bail out her cellar every time it rains as she battles with Sandwell Council to find a solution.

Ten weeks after water started to seep through the gable end wall of her Avenue Road home from council-owned land, the cracks are growing but no remedial work has been started.

The mother-of-one said property services staff told her they have to follow “procedure,” and after suffering a five inch flood at the weekend the department has failed to return her desperate calls.

Miss Gill fears the water is collecting in the cellars of demolished houses on neighbouring scrubland and rain water is also unable to escape because culverts on the land are blocked with debris dating back to when the Blackheath bypass was built.

The problem was reported to the council on April 30, but it was a month before a surveyor was sent. Work she understood was starting on June 27 never got under way and a structural engineer who visited last week said he needed more information about the land.

“I want them to find the source of the water, make sure my gable end is safe and repair the damage, which may mean underpinning my house and putting in new damp proofing,” said Miss Gill, adding: “It started off as a trickle, but the holes are getting bigger and its flooding the cellar where we keep our deep freeze and tumble dryer.

“We are trying to do the house up and trying to move forward. To have this going on for 10 weeks is unacceptable. If it damages my property, where does it leave me?”

Cabinet member for jobs and economy Councillor Derek Rowley said: "We are working to determine the source of the water that is filling Miss Gill's basement.

"We have had meetings with her and the matter has now been passed to our structural engineers who will be making arrangements to carry out the necessay site investigations as soon as possible."